The MSPT Sycuan Casino $360 Regional Event attracted 1,047 runners over three flights, but only 131 of them returned for Sunday’s Day 2 finale. It took 10 hours of play before the final seven players agreed to a seven-way ICM deal that ultimately saw chip leader Armando Mesina, a 65-year-old retired Navy veteran, claim the trophy and $33,329 in prize money after a 7-way ICM chop.
Prior to the win, Mesina had $83,444 in live tournament earnings according to The Hendon Mob. His MSPT score proved to be a career-high, just surpassing the $31,805 he received for finishing seventh in the 2013 Legends of Poker $150 Mega Million VII at the Bicycle Casino back in 2013.
It took less than 45 minutes of play on Day 2 for 19 players to fall, including 2020 WSOP.com $1,000 NLHE Championship bracelet winner Nahrain Tamero. That left the top 112 players getting a piece of a $312,600 prize pool.
Among those to cash but fall short of the final table were Day 1a chip leader Happy Spaulding (9th - $4,376), Kobe Brown (15th - $2,626), Adrianne Hall (21st - $2,157), Anthony Bland (42nd - $1,219), WSOP bracelet winner and Day 1b chip leader Ben Moon (55th - $1,125), Bob Chow (62nd - $1,032), Brad Sailor (63rd - $1,032), and Harold Singleton (80th - $907).
At the final table, Philip Bruning began as the third-biggest stack, but two coinflips in near succession ended his run in eighth place. First, his pocket eights failed to hold against ace-king, and shortly thereafter he got it in with pocket threes and once again losing, this time to ace-jack. Bruning took home $5,002 for his eight-place finish, and not long after the final seven agreed to an ICM deal to end the tournament.